The genesis of “Make America Great Again”.

Here’s what I think this is all about. First I should identify my history as to why I think this way. I am 76, that being said, it really means it’s not my first dance. I am Columbia U. trained and had 50 years as a therapist continually working at understanding how childhood development forms the adult. I learned a few things about family dynamics and psychological growth. I read. My professional reputation was that I got to the nub of conflicts by understanding how they got there. I worked with people helping them separate reality from fear and fantasy. I am a feet on the ground, eyes open kind of guy. I listen and observe. Today I am going to talk.
So what is this “Make America Great Again”? Why has Donald Trump latched onto this slogan?
Well it’s a good one, because people can interpret it to their own personal liking. It can mean different things to different people, which is perfect for our sound bite politics. It says a lot without saying anything specific.
Here’s my view on what it could mean to Donald Trump, who as we have come to know, everthing is personal.
Let’s start with Donald as six years old in 1952. In psychological terms it’s the beginning of latency, the easiest part of ones life in terms of conflict. You already know you are alive and mortal. Its time to be a kid and not a baby or preschooler. Socialization begins. You leave your house and go learn how to become socialized.
In the next few years when young boys were playing with guns and toy soldiers, all symbols of power and virility, America had just saved Europe from the Nazis and Fascists. It had also repelled the North Koreans from invading the South. America had a powerful leadership role in the world’s eye. The American President was a white, ex 5 Star General named Dwight Eisenhower. He was very popular and when Donald was 10 years old he was elected for his second term. Everyone liked Ike.
At ten years old to young boys, role models start to take on significance. War heroes are very powerful. America was living with G.I.Joe. It was the post war boon in America. Builders and manufacturers were carving suburbs out of vacant land. Donald’s father was a wealthy builder and Donald and his sister and brother were living a privelidged life.
By early adolescence Donald was seeing America as the dream. General Motors, Chrysler and Ford were building huge cars with big tail fins. Oil was cheap and the Governmant had little control over manufacturing. There was no EPA to stop companies from polluting. It was Jim Crow America with no voting or civil rights laws. The Latin immigration began only when Donald was 14 as Cubans fled Castro. By the time Donald was 18, his sports hero was Joe Namath, a New York Jet with a model on each arm. Hollywood had Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, who were famous for womanizing. John Wayne and cowboy gun movies were huge. The white guy comes in and saves the town and gets the girl.
Donald’s father was a powerful man who had early ties to Nazi influence, and he favored Donald over his older brother Fred. This is important to his development as Donald would follow in his father’s footsteps seeking his approval. Money and influence were Trump’s daily life events. The little duck follows its parents path. Waddle waddle.
To a young male in America the gun heroes were very powerful sex symbols. The girls always melted around the hero. Its no wonder that Donald grew up to hang around with the likes of Joe Namath and eventually own pagents like Miss Universe, where his world was full of models and glitz. Everyone knows that abuses are commonplace in the male dominated modeling world. A playground for an abusive male.
Then came the 60’s when America was losing a war in Vietnam. In the 70’s oil/gas became expensive and OPEC and the Arab conglomerate added heavily to the cost of American manufacturing. The knowledge of global warming had begun and the EPA was formed. It meant business had to submit to government controls and profits for builders and manufacturers would be less. Not popular in the Trump household.
You can see all the underpinnings of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” as a return to his 1950’s childhood where he as well as America were living without the interference of government. America was a white male controlled business, where business and sports team owners controlled everything. There was no free agency. No one telling you what you could do. Whether it harmed the little guy was of no consequence. It was Trump’s great America.